Da Couch Tomato

An attempt at a new layout, with horrible glitches, and very minimal knowledge of HTML.

Cinema, television, literature, and music–basically anything that can be reviewed. If you're interested in writing reviews, e-mail us at dacouchtomato@gmail.com. We won't pay you for reviews, but you get to practise your writing skills. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

Review: Despicable Me 2 3D

Illumination Entertainment has fallen into the Hollywood money-making mentality called "the sequel trap". With only four releases under Illumination's belt, it's sad that they already had to resort to sequels.

1. GRU HAS NO CHARACTER ARC
What made the first film great was the character arc for Gru (a.k.a. Despicable Him, voiced by Steve Carrell). Gru underwent change, from despicable villain to a loving, doting father, and it was his gradual transformation that was so fun to watch.

2. THE LOVE ANGLE WAS TOO WEAK TO SUSTAIN
They could've chosen to put the romantic subplot in the forefront, thus presenting Gru with a dilemma on whether he'd choose the children or the impossibly skinny Lucy (voiced by Kristen Wiig). But they didn't.

3. IT'S AN EXCUSE TO LAUNCH THE MINIONS SPIN-OFF
The reason why McDonald's Minion Happy Meals have been sold out even before the movie's release is because of the insane popularity of these yellow kernel-like creatures. Their spin-off movie, creatively titled Minions, is set to hit the theaters on 19 December 2014.

Regarding the 3D, Illumination knows that computer-animated films are the best medium for stereoscopic 3D. They've known that since the first film. Remember that 3D exhibition they did at the end credits? They did that again here. And it was awesome.